[Closed] Canada trip - transport for family of four and bikes

I haven't done this yet, but have spent a good amount of time researching to try to find a solution, best I found was renting a minivan (from rent-a-wreck used car rentals I think) who said they didn't mind bikes in the car with the rear seat removed as long as there were no obvious marks or damage! (but did warn me that they would have to check the luggage space over in detail as policy was technically no bikes)

We were looking at touring around a bit so ruled out any of the transfer companies the do bikes.

If you find a better or cheaper solution I'll be very interested!

crew cab pick-up sounds like what you need, won't be cheap and you'll need to secure bikes/luggage somewhere when not riding.

Thanks for the quick responses. Had thought of a minivan but did worry that a knackered interior may not go down well with the rental Co!

Did see plenty of pickups last time with the front wheel draped over the tailgate. I guess rucksacks have to sit in the truck bed(?), so if it lashes down we're wearing soggy clothes.

Might give rent-a-wreck a mail and see what they've got available.

If you get a pickup, best get something to protect the tailgate and frames from rubbing.
Specific pads are around $150 but you could probably pick up a piece of cheap carpet offcut to drap over the tailgate...

Avis, minivan. Have blankets for the bikes to sit on - as long as you don't properly trash the interior, you should be fine?

You'll also want good locks and decent length cables for any bikes left on a pickup bed.

Tarps are a cheap way of keeping stuff mostly dry in the back.

Canadian Tire is your best bet for buying this type of stuff cheaply (think Halfords, B&Q and a furniture store rolled into one!)

You might also want to look at U-Haul for rental though their business model is more short term, local rental so may not work for longer periods or higher Kms. You'd have to check whether there's one near YVR...

Honestly, crew cab pickups are cool, but generally useless if you have gear. Security nightmare I the pickup bed. I'd look at an 8 passenger transit if I were you, loads of space to keep things secure and probably similar price point to a pickup.
Minivan's will do 5 adults, 5 bikes and luggage, but, you'll be fighting with organisation all the time.

Great responses - thanks.
Yeah, would need to protect paintwork and get some polish to clean it up before handing it back. U-Haul limited on the km's for what I need unfortunately.

Thought about renting a panel van but only seem to have seating for two. Could leave the kids at home i guess? Something like a T5 crew cab or similar, but don't think they're available.

Nice one BearBack. Did consider something like a GMC Savana but wasn't sure if you could remove/fold flat some of the seating to get bikes/kit in

I'm impressed that you want to make that trip with four bikes. Sounds like airport hell to me.
Saw a few of those big Transit minibuses in Florida last year. Probably the easiest thing to hire that's big enough but it'll still be interesting fitting the bike bags in.

[url= http://www.franklinford.com/new/Ford/2017-Ford-Transit-250-franklin-ma-09baaff00a0e0ae73626230360a6caa1.htm ]like this[/url]

Newer savannas/express vans have a good down rear but they certainly are not stow and go like a Dodge caravan.
Our 15 passenger express van does 7 passengers, 7 packed bikes and luggage as we remove 2 rows of seats for most of the summer.
I reckon an 8 passenger transit would do 4 bikes without removing seats.

Gotcha. Bikes in the back and rucksacks and kit on the rear row of seats. I'll have a look and see if I can rent one anywhere in Vancouver and how much it'll cost. Cheers

Heading out in 3 weeks

Panniers on .

Excellent! Have a fantastic trip